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Victims of deadly fracking rupture ID'd

One person is dead and two more are injured after a water-line rupture at a fracking site in Weld County.
Weld County

WELD COUNTY - One person is dead and two more are injured after a water-line rupture at a fracking site in Weld County.

It happened at a fracking site off Highway 66 and Weld County Road 9 1/2 at 9:33 a.m.

When Mountain View Fire Rescue officials arrived on the scene, they found one person dead and two others injured.

The man killed in the rupture has been identified as Matthew Smith, 36, of Brighton. The injured were identified as Thomas Sedlmayr, 48, and Grant Casey, 28.

Northern Colorado MedVac arrived five minutes later and took Sedlmayr to Denver Health. Casey was taken via ambulance to Medical Center of the Rockies. Family members of Sedlmayr released a statement thanking the public for their concern. They say he's in serious condition. Casey's conditions is unknown at this time.

Investigators think a high-pressure water line ruptured. When that water line ruptured, about 2,500 to 3,500 PSI came out. The cause of that rupture is unknown at this time.

Halliburton released the following statement following the incident:

Halliburton is saddened to confirm the death of our employee who died on a work site north of Fort Lupton, Colo. The incident occurred this morning. Two additional employees were injured in the incident and were taken to Denver Health and Medical Center of the Rockies.

This is a very difficult time for all of us at Halliburton, and we are working with local authorities as they look into the details of this incident. Our thoughts and prayers are with our employees' loved ones. Out of respect for the families' privacy, we are not releasing any additional information at this time.

The site is shut down while the investigation continues.

(KUSA-TV © 2014 Multimedia Holdings Corporation)

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